"We ask everyone who is out in nature this autumn to pick up excrement and hair from bears and deliver it to NNS in the area," said Jonas Kindberg, head of Rovdata, agency, which provides data for NNS, as cited by the Norwegian edition of The Local.

“Combine outdoor life this autumn with a little bear poo picking,” he said, adding that samples sent in by volunteers have been of great help to NNS’ surveys for a long time.

By analyzing the samples and their DNA, scientists can establish how many bears there are in a certain area, while learning about their gender and age as well.

If not familiar with bear poo, it may be a good idea to go through a special NNS brochure providing “good examples of how it looks like.”